Flexible photoluminescent light shield and diffuser

ABSTRACT

A flexible photoluminescent shield/diffuser attachment for a portable light, the light comprising a light emitting end emitting light generally along an axis is shown. The attachment comprises an elongated hollow body fabricated from a pliable translucent photoluminescent material and having a shape memory. A first end of said hollow body is able to be secured to the light emitting end of the light coaxial with the axis.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/341,125 filed on Dec. 22, 2008 which claimspriority, under 35 U.S.C. §119(e), of U.S. provisional application Ser.No. 61/015,758, filed on Dec. 21, 2007. All documents above areincorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a flexible photoluminescent lightshield and diffuser. More specifically, it relates to a flexibleluminescent light shield and diffuser attachment adapted to be coupledto a portable light such as a flashlight.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As known in the art, flashlight wand attachments are used asillumination, notification, alerting and identification devices in avariety of applications. These devices typically comprise a rigid andhollow elongated body member, which diffuses light emitted by theflashlight (or other handheld signalling device) they are mounted on.Typically, the wand attachment is fastened to the flashlight by means ofthreads, a latch or the like. One drawback of such rigid wandattachments is that, when mounted on the signalling device, the wandattachment is obstructive and the overall device is not compact andcannot be easily carried or stored in confined spaces (e.g. a pocket orpurse). Additionally, as such wands are relatively long, misuse, forexample by a user falling on top of the wand, can lead to injury oreventual death, in particular when the wand is broken during suchmisuse.

Consequently, there exists a need for a shield/diffuser attachmentattachment, which, when mounted on a signalling device, allows for thelatter to be easily carried and stored, but returns to its originalshape when in use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses the above and other drawbacks byproviding a flexible shield/diffuser attachment for a portable light,the light comprising a light emitting end emitting light generally alongan axis. The attachment comprises an elongated hollow body fabricatedfrom a pliable translucent photoluminescent material having a shapememory, wherein a first end of the hollow body is removeably securableto the light emitting end coaxial with the axis.

There is also provided a trail marking kit comprising a flashlighthaving a light emitting end, a plurality of elongate cylindrical hollowbodies fabricated from a pliable translucent photoluminescent materialhaving a shape memory, and printed instructions informing that in useeach of hollow bodies are to be sequentially placed over the lightemitting end, energized for a predetermined time and discarded.

Also there is provided a method for marking a trail comprising

Illuminating a flashlight, selecting one of a plurality of elongatecylindrical hollow bodies fabricated from a pliable translucentphotoluminescent material having a shape memory, energising the selectedhollow body by placing the selected hollow body over a light emittingend of the flashlight for an energizing amount of time, removing theenergised hollow body from the light emitting end, and discarding theenergised hollow body at a location along the trail, wherein theselecting, energising, removing and discarding are repeated at aplurality of locations along the trail.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a flexible light shield and diffuserattachment in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 2 a, 2 b, and 2 c provide side perspective, top plan and side planviews of a flexible light shield and diffuser attachment mounted on aportable signalling device in accordance with an illustrative embodimentof the present invention;

FIGS. 3 a, 3 b, and 3 c provide side plan views of a flexible flashlightshield and diffuser attachment in accordance with different illustrativeembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a side perspective view of a flexible light diffuserattachment in accordance with an alternative illustrative embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 5 is a side exploded perspective view of a flexible light shieldand diffuser together with a collar attachment in accordance with asecond alternative illustrative embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a flexible light shield and diffuserattachment in accordance with a third alternative illustrativeembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to FIG. 1, a flexible light shield and diffuserattachment, generally referred to using the numeral 10, will bedescribed. The shield/diffuser attachment 10 comprises an open-endedelongated hollow body 12 and a flange 14 at one end thereof. In apreferred embodiment, the flange 14 comprises evenly spaced recesses asin 16, which ease gripping of the shield/diffuser attachment 10, as willbe described herein below.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 a and 2 b in addition to FIG. 1, theshield/diffuser attachment 10 is mounted on a flashlight, signalingdevice or the like 18. The device 18 is illustratively comprised of arugged housing 20 fabricated from a durable material, such as plastic. Aseries of light emitting diodes (LEDs) as in 22 are mounted on the frontface 24 of the housing 20 and protected by a dome shaped lens cap 26.The cap 26 is illustratively fabricated from a transparent ortranslucent material such as clear or opaque plastic, or clear plasticwith a diffusing pattern etched in a surface thereof. The housing 20also illustratively includes a compartment 28, which houses a battery(not shown) for supplying power to the electronics (not shown) whichpower the LEDs 22 when the device 18 is activated. The device 18 alsoincludes a switch mechanism such a multi-position bezel-like rotaryswitch 30 mounted around the lens cap 26. By rotating the switch 30 in aclockwise or counter-clockwise direction, one of a number of instructionsets can be selected for powering the LEDs 22. The switch 30 comprisesrecesses as in 32, which ease gripping of the switch 30 when the latteris being rotated.

Still referring to FIGS. 2 a, 2 b and 2 c in addition to FIG. 1, theflange 14 of the shield/diffuser attachment 10 is shaped to snugly fitover the switch 30 in order to avoid impairing the use of the latter. Inaddition, when mounting the shield/diffuser attachment 10 to the device18, the recesses 16 of the shield/diffuser attachment 10 are preferablyfitted over the recesses 32 provided on the switch 30. As a result, theflange 14 can be easily gripped (by placing the operator's fingers intothe recesses 16) and rotated, thereby rotating the switch 30 at the sametime. Indeed, as will be apparent to a person of skill in the art, therotary motion induced on the flange 14 is transmitted to the rotaryswitch 30. The signalling device 18 can therefore still be operated andan instruction set selected for powering the LEDs 22 with theshield/diffuser attachment 10 mounted thereon.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 a, 3 b and 3 c in addition to FIGS. 1 through 2c, the body 12 of the shield/diffuser attachment 10 is preferablyentirely fabricated from a flexible material, such as silicon or rubberor the like, which retains memory of its shape such that once collapsedthe shield/diffuser 10 will return to its original shape. This willallow the shield/diffuser attachment 10 to be pliable and thus theoverall device (or the shield/diffuser attachment 10 alone) can easilybe stored in confined spaces such as pockets, purses and the like. Sucha design makes the overall device more compact and rugged, as it is noteasily broken when stored or carried. The shield/diffuser attachment 10design of the present invention has the additional advantage ofalleviating the need for tools for mounting the shield/diffuserattachment 10 to the signalling device 18. As a result, it will beapparent that the overall construction of the signalling device is costeffective.

Still referring to FIGS. 3 a, 3 b and 3 c in addition to FIGS. 1 through2 c, in addition to being flexible, the body 12 of the shield/diffuserattachment 10 may be opaque (FIGS. 3 a and 3 c) or transparent ortranslucent (FIG. 3 b). For this purpose, clear or tinted rubber may forexample be used. The body 12 may further vary in length, shape and sizeaccording to the desired signalling application. For example, the body12 could have a truncated cone (FIG. 3 b) or a cylindrical shape (FIG. 3c).

Still referring to FIGS. 3 a, 3 b and 3 c in addition to FIGS. 1 through2 c, when the signalling device 18 is in operation, the light emitted bythe LEDs 22 is directed by the shield/diffuser attachment 10, which isthereby more readily visible at great distances. Indeed, the upper endof the hollow body 12 preferably has an opening formed therein, whichallows for a portion of the light emitted by the LEDs 22 to pass throughthe body 12 unobstructed. This design further eliminates the need forremoving the shield/diffuser attachment 10 when such unobstructed lightis desired. In addition, when the shield/diffuser attachment 10 is madeof transparent or translucent material, the body 12 is illuminated whenthe signalling device 18 is in operation, thus increasing the visibilityof the overall device.

Referring now to FIG. 4, in an alternative illustrative embodiment of ashield/diffuser attachment 10 in accordance with the present inventionthe hollow body 12 can be translucent with a closed and tipped with atranslucent dome 34. The dome 34 serves to disburse light which wouldotherwise exit the end of the hollow body 12 as well as improve suctionsuch that when the flange 14 is mounted on the end of a flashlight orthe like (not shown) the gripping for exerted by the flange 14 on theend of the flashlight is improved.

Referring now to FIG. 5, in a second alternative illustrative embodimentof the present invention the flange 14 of the shield/diffuser attachment10 includes an inner surface adapted to mate with a corresponding hollowcollar 36. In operation, the barrel of the flashlight (not shown) isinserted into hollow collar 36 and a threaded inner surface 38 of theflange is illustratively threaded onto a corresponding threaded outersurface 40 of the hollow collar 36, thereby securing the shield/diffuserattachment 10 to the collar 36 over the end of the flashlight. Thediameter of the aperture 42 of the collar 36 is suitably chosen to adaptto the diameter of the barrel of the flashlight. Typically, the collar36 is provided in a kit with a plurality of collars as in 36 eachadapted to the barrel diameter of a particular flashlight.

In an alternative embodiment, the threaded interconnection can bereplaced with another suitable type of interconnection such as a snapfit, friction fit or the like.

Referring now to FIG. 6, in a third alternative illustrative embodimentof a shield/diffuser attachment 10 in accordance with the presentinvention, the inner surface 44 of the flange 14 comprises a series ofsteps 46, thereby allowing the shield/diffuser attachment 10 to adapt toa variety of different flashlights as in 48 having different headdiameters. Additionally, in a variant of the same, the shield/diffuserattachment 10 can be translucent with a closed end such as a translucentdome or the like which, as discussed above, through suction can improvethe fit between the flange 14 and the flashlight 48.

In an additional embodiment, the shield/diffuser attachment 10 ismanufactured from a pliable translucent material that is alsophotoluminescent. For example, during manufacture of the shield/diffuserattachment 10 a photoluminescent pigment is added to the flexiblematerial such that a photoluminescent feature is incorporated therein.Suitable pigments for incorporation into the pliable material from whichthe shroud is manufactured include typically light green or yellowphotoluminescent pigments although colours such as blue could be used ina particular embodiment.

Typically a plurality of photoluminescent shield/diffuser attachments as10 would be provided in the form of a kit. During use, one of thephotoluminescent shield/diffuser attachments as 10 would be mounted onthe end of the light as in 18 and energized. Following energising(typically by placing the photoluminescent shield/diffuser attachmentsas 10 over the end of the flashlight and illuminating the flashlight fora predetermined time (for at least 20 seconds for example) tosufficiently energise the attachment) the energized photoluminescentshield/diffuser attachment 10 would be removed and discarded atlocations along the trail, for example to provide a series of trailmarkers or the like. Instructions would also be provided to this effect.

Although the present invention has been described hereinabove by way ofspecific embodiments thereof, it can be modified, without departing fromthe spirit and nature of the subject invention as defined in theappended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A flexible shield/diffuser attachment for aportable light, the light comprising a light emitting end emitting lightgenerally along an axis, the attachment comprising: an elongated hollowbody fabricated from a pliable translucent photoluminescent materialhaving a shape memory; wherein a first end of said hollow body isremoveably securable to the light emitting end coaxial with the axis. 2.The flexible shield/diffuser attachment of claim 1, wherein said hollowbody is frusto-conical and further wherein said first end comprises awide end of said frusto-conical body.
 3. The flexible shield/diffuserattachment of claim 1, wherein a second end of said hollow body isclosed.
 4. The flexible shield/diffuser attachment of claim 3, whereinclosed end is domed.
 5. The flexible shield/diffuser attachment of claim1, wherein said first end comprises a flange having an inner surfaceadapted to fit snugly about the light emitting end.
 6. The flexibleshield/diffuser attachment of claim 5, wherein the light emitting endcomprises one of a plurality of diameters, wherein said inner surfacecomprises a series of progressively smaller diameter concentric rings,and further wherein each of said rings is adapted to fit a differentcorresponding one of said plurality of diameters.
 7. A trail marking kitcomprising: a flashlight having a light emitting end; a plurality ofelongate cylindrical hollow bodies fabricated from a pliable translucentphotoluminescent material having a shape memory; and printedinstructions informing a user that in use each of hollow bodies are tobe sequentially placed over said light emitting end, energized for apredetermined time and discarded.
 8. The kit of claim 7, furthercomprising a plurality of said collars, each of said collars comprisingan aperture of a differing predetermined diameter.
 9. The kit of claim7, wherein said hollow body is secured to said collar using a thread onan inner surface of said first end and a corresponding thread on anouter surface of said collar.
 10. The kit of claim 7, wherein saidhollow body is secured to said collar using a snap fit connectionbetween said first end and said collar.
 11. The kit of claim 7, whereinsaid hollow body is secured to said collar using a friction fit betweensaid first end and said collar.
 12. The kit of claim 7, wherein saidpredetermined time is at least 20 seconds.
 13. A method for marking atrail comprising: illuminating a flashlight; selecting one of aplurality of elongate cylindrical hollow bodies fabricated from apliable translucent photoluminescent material having a shape memory;energising said selected hollow body by placing said selected hollowbody over a light emitting end of said flashlight for an energizingamount of time; removing said energised hollow body from said lightemitting end; and discarding said energised hollow body at a locationalong the trail; wherein said selecting, energising, removing anddiscarding are repeated at a plurality of locations along the trail. 14.The method of claim 13, wherein said energizing amount of time is atleast 20 seconds.